Prison Programme

WTC has had a long-held interest in supporting prisoners and prison leavers. In 2015, Lucy Peppiatt launched the Principal’s Bursary Fund (PBF) to financially assist students who have a recent history of offending or addiction. Since then, the team has been praying for around 10 years about the possibility of delivering one of our courses in a prison. 

In 2024, Lucy was approached by a student who works as a chaplain at HMP The Mount. She told Lucy that she had a cohort of people in her congregation who were interested in studying for a theological degree, and were praying that they could find a way to begin their studies while they were still serving their time. 

The college spent some time discerning and planning what this would look like, and in June 2024, we hired Sarah Coppin as Programme Director for this new initiative.

There are three components to our Prison Programme: 

1. 1. We are currently providing non validated in-person ‘taster classes’ for prisoners in HMP The Mount who have an interest in theology. We are currently receiving a lot of positive feedback from these sessions, and look forward to the next stage of development of this programme.
   2. In the Autumn of 2025, we hope to make our pre-recorded videos for our Foundations Course available to anyone in any prison who would like to give theological study a try.* The idea is that they can watch these videos as a group and have a discussion that is facilitated by their chaplain. 
   3. From September 2026, we will deliver a Level 4 Cert HE* inside HMP The Mount. The prison will function similarly to one of our Hubs, and we will conduct mini Resis at the beginning of each term, so that the men will have a blend of in-person, online and pre-recorded teaching. The men will have to submit essays like any other student from our validated courses, and we will provide the necessary Study Skills support to enable them to do this well.

*Pending Funding

We take safeguarding very seriously, and will be working closely with the prison staff and our safeguarding consultants, ThirtyOne:Eight in ensuring that we run this as safely as possible. 

Click here for our up to date safeguarding code of conduct.

We are currently aiming towards the following dates:

October 2025 – June 2026

Launch our unaccredited Level 3 Certificate, ‘Foundations in Kingdom Theology’ (Prison Edition) remotely across the prison estate. 

September 2026 – June 2028

Deliver a Level 4 Certificate of Higher Education in Kingdom Theology, accredited by Birmingham Newman University inside HMP The Mount.

No. People who do our course will not be ordained by any denomination.

Our two greatest needs at this stage are prayer and finances. 

If you would like to join our prayer newsletter, you can sign up here to receive monthly updates on what we need prayer for. 

We are also looking for regular, monthly financial partners who can help make this vision a reality! Please click here to give towards our programme.

All gifts given towards the WTC Prison Programme will cover the overall set-up costs for our pilot. Click here to read some examples of what your gift could help us achieve.

We recently received feedback from Chaplaincy HQ that their greatest need is for more pastoral care in supporting prison-leavers. One of the best ways you can do this is ask your church to join the Welcome Directory (UK-wide) and/or connect with Caring For Prison Leavers (London only). Both charities provide training for church groups who would like to welcome and support prison leavers safely. CFPL also has a helpful handbook that highlights various ways you can support a prison leaver. 

Aside from that, our friends over at Prison Fellowship have some fantastic opportunities for ordinary Christians to get involved in prison ministry. From letter writing to facilitating Bible studies, they have many projects on the go that you can get involved with. 

If you are specifically interested in evangelism in prisons, then Prison Alpha and Kairos UK are always looking for volunteers. Contact them directly about how you can get involved.

While we do not offer any specific courses that train people for chaplaincy, we do have a growing number of students and alumni who have used their WTC qualification in Kingdom Theology as part of their pathway to becoming a prison chaplain. 

If you are part of the Church of England or the Roman Catholic church, you will need to complete chaplaincy training through your denomination. 

If you are part of an independent church, you may be able to become a chaplain if your denomination is a member of the Free Churches Group (please check their directory here), and you hold a Theological qualification at Level 5 or higher. 

Please note that Vineyard UK recently became members of the Free Churches Group and are also formally partnered with WTC. This means that people who are part of the Vineyard movement and have studied Theology at Level 5 or higher can now apply for chaplaincy roles and be employed by His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Services. 

Our BA or Graduate Diploma in Kingdom Theology might be the right course for you if you wish to take this route.

We are happy to chat about delivering our non-validated Level-3 course in your prison from the Autumn of 2025. Please contact Sarah at pdpp@wtctheology.org.uk to learn more about what this entails. 

We are currently experiencing very high demand, so we cannot promise that we will be able to deliver our Level-4 Cert HE in your prison any time soon. However, please do still be in touch, as Sarah would love to build her network and talk about ways that we as a college can resource you.